Obama: Republicans 'trying to mess with me' with budget bill

After House Republicans passed a bill that continued to fund the government while defunding Obamacare, President Obama characterized the GOP as a body that is "trying to mess with me."

The political posturing between the White House and Republican legislators in the House on the issue of the federal budget became more pronounced on Friday.

Speaking before an audience of auto workers at a Ford plant, President Obama accused House Republicans of "trying to mess with me," as CBS News reported.

The president's comments came on the heels of a GOP-authored House bill that had passed just hours earlier. The House bill promises to fund the government while pointedly defunding President Obama's signature Affordable Care Act.

"It's just, they're not focused on you," Obama said. "They're focused on politics. They're focused on trying to mess with me. They're not focused on you."

President Obama later telephoned House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to further underscore his position on not negotiating with Republicans on the persistent matter of the debt limit, according to Politico. Congressional Republicans have expressed their desire to cease any debt ceiling increases.

“Given the long history of using debt limit increases to achieve bipartisan deficit reduction and economic reforms, the speaker was disappointed but told the president that the two chambers of Congress will chart the path ahead,” a Boehner aide told Politico. “It was a brief call.”